In a few days time we will again be celebrating Father’s Day. It is always a day mixed with emotions for so many people.
These next few verses are certainly charged with emotion.
The Apostle Paul is reaching out to the Church in Corinth with all the love he can muster.
Using imagery familiar to his culture (and many others today) he describes himself as a father who brought the Church, the bride, to Christ.
“I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the snake’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” 2 Corinthians 11:2-4
This arranged marriage sees the father bringing his daughter as a pure bride to the groom, Christ. In the same way Paul is saying we should present ourselves to Christ with purity. Apart from the obvious behavioural purity, there are still today the same false teachings, competing loyalties and compromises and this devotion to Christ is in danger of being corrupted. This is why Paul has a godly jealousy to protect this from happening.
He uses the story of Eve who was deceived by the serpent and says we are still in danger. The devil doesn’t change does he? He still brings doubts to God’s Word or brings alternative interpretations of it to fit our desires and pleasures and what pains him the most is that they ‘put up with it easily enough.’
Paul’s jealousy is good. We should have this jealousy for each other. It means to care enough for each other’s walk with God. As a father’s jealousy for His children to be the best they can be we too should contend and urge one another in love. Our lives matter to each other and they matter to Christ. Paul calls out what he sees they are falling away in and it helps us as we look out for each other.
A different Jesus- the cross for our sins and the resurrection for our new life from a Christ who is the Son of God, a member of the trinity, God Himself.
A different Spirit – experiencing the work and manifestations of the Spirit who always glorifies Christ and conforms us into His own image.
A different Gospel – we are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone.
Anything but the above is different to the truth and we like a father should have a jealousy to protect one another.
Missions Paul 